February 14, 2016

What does the name 'Kurt Gödel' refer to? Most people think it refers to the person who came up with the incompleteness theorem. But does it matter what most people think? Are our intuitions consistent, or even relevant here? Michael Devitt in conversation with Nigel Warburton explores this question of the role of intuitions in assessing reference.

This episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast was made at the University of York.

January 07, 2014

What part does context play in determining the meaning of a sentence? Is there any room for literal meaning? Emma Borg discusses these questions with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

November 10, 2013

In the early part of the Twentieth Century Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, and Ludwig Wittgenstein transformed philosophy: they emphasized the logical form of language. Ludwig Wittgenstein later repudiated his earlier philosophy, concentrating on how people actually use language, the things they do do with words. Together with J.L. Austin, Gilbert Ryle and others, he initiated what has come to be known as the Linguistic Turn in philosophy. For this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, Rom Harré, whose PhD supervisor was Austin, discusses the Linguistic Turn with Nigel Warburton.

February 25, 2012

J.L. Austin believed that we could make philosopical progress through precise scrutiny of ordinary language: the words we use, the contexts in which we utter them, and what actions we perform in the process. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, Guy Longworth discusses Austin's approach to philosophy.

January 06, 2008

Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the great thinkers of the 20th Century. Part of his originality lay in his view of what Philosophy
was and how it ought to be done. For this episode of Philosophy BitesBarry Smith of Birkbeck College London gives a lucid account of Wittgenstein's conception of Philosophy.

August 13, 2007

How many grains of sand make a heap? This is the classic Sorites Paradox. In this episode of Philosophy Bites Timothy Williamson, author of an important book on the topic, explains what vagueness is and why it matters.